Species

Rating:
Summary: Fun and Sexy Alien flick.
Review: A secret experiment involves human DNA and alien DNA to make a female being who is a hybrid of both, it's now on the loose in Los Angeles only wanting to mate and kill.

Exciting Sci-fi horror thriller with good if slimy special effects not for the squeamish, but "Sil" the alien woman played by Natasha Hensreigh is absolutely gorgeous all the way as a perfect woman! if you enjoy Sci-fi movies then rent this one.

Also recommended: Return of the Aliens- The Deady Spawn, John Carpenter's The Thing, Alien, Ghosts of Mars, The Fifth Element, Lifeforce, Pod People ( MST3K episode), Aliens, Critters 1 & 2, Event Horizon, Total Recall, Starship Troopers, Predator, Contamination, Dog Soldiers, The X-Files Movie, Resident Evil, Predator 2, Alien3, Alien Resurrection, and The Terminator.

Rating:
Summary: Sexy Creature Feature
Review: In this B-grade Sci-fi flick, the government combines alien DNA with human eggs resulting in a female alien/human hybrid dubbed Sil. The alien, played by Natashia Henstridge, has an insatiable urge to procreate. It's basically a big master plan by the aliens who sent the DNA to colonize earth. Sil escapes her captivity and goes on the prowl for unsuspecting men to impregnate her. Meanwhile the government dispatches a handpicked team to find Sil. Led by the sarcastic Michael Masden and the compassionate Marg Hellenberger, the team tracks Sil to Los Angeles. Here the body count rises as the team races to find Sil before she can mate.

The concept is a good one and the acting/dialog is on par with what you would expect from B-grade Sci-fi. Sil's alien persona is based on creatures created by artist H.R. Giger (Giger also created the designs for the creatures in the Aliens movies). Giger's biomechanical aliens often take on sexual overtones, a concept that is carried through in this movie. The movie plays like a X-Files episode at times as Masden and Helenberger take center stage in the hunt for Sil. The computer generated FX in the closing scenes are dated, but effective. The DVD is a budget version from MGM offering very little in the way of extras. The movie is presented in both widescreen and full screen formats. The picture is crisp a clear with excellent detail. Sound is good and presented in Dolby 5.1. Species is a definite asset to the sci-fi buffs DVD library and a must for "creature feature" fans. Helenberger, Masden, and Henstridge returned a couple of years later for the inferior but entertaining sequel Species II.

Rating:
Summary: even the greatest ideas can become a failiure in wrong hands
Review: Through SETI research, scientists have come up with an alien DNA and instructions on how to combine it with human DNA so the product could adapt to life on Earth. Initially excited, the scientists working on the project soon get scared of their achievement, and want to gas the little girl, while the team leader Fitch (Kingsley) can't hide tears. Unfortunatly, the creature's got different plans... The opening scene's fantastic.

I don't get it? How can someone take such a great idea and turn it into something as messed up? A few monts old girl who looks like a 12-year-old escapes from the laboratory and learns of betrayal and malice. What a potential for a great story! E.T. would have been utterly forgotten was this script written by someone with but a speck of talent! A creature who half belongs to this world is set free in it, an utter tabula rasa, fighting with it's dual personality and trying to get a grip over her existance while pursued by her creator and a specialist team assembled to kill her (a freelance hitman, an empath, a molecular biologist and another guy, I forgot his profession). Can you see the potential? What would it be like if a human was thrown in the world with no knowledge whatsoever? Better yet, an alien - human crossbreed? How does it learn? What are it's instincts? How does it feel, how does it react after being so betrayed by the only creatures she knew? What's it like to have the only person that ever showed sympathy twoard you (Fitch) suddenly turn against you? How do you react to knowledge you can fully communicate to these people around you, since the team has an empath on? What happens when you figure out just WHAT are you? What happens once your people from outta space realise you're not in on their plan, 'cause you can't be, 'cause they didn't teach you anything? And furthermore, the movie has KINGSLEY on crew, and the other actors who aren't bad if they only have something to work with. This could've been GREAT.

But is this pursued? No. Instead, the girl transforms (in a very lame scene, you'll notice if you saw a lot of horror movies)into a sex bomb whose only idea is to procreate and while it tries to do this, it kills everything in it's way and showing a lot of her body while doing so. Whenever the story tries being insightful, it quickly backs away. There's some lame psychological transformation of a trusting child to an omnipotent creature as she realises she's much better (physically) than humans, but it's set in the 356th plan of the story... Pah. It's hardly got any logic in it at all. Fitch, Kingsley's character, is great because it's Kingsley, but everything else just isn't worth it, even tho the actors did GREAT considering what they had to work with - a lame plot, lame subplots and silly dialogues.

A good passtime, I saw worse movies, granted... so if you're in for a good time and some fun with a lot of gore and sex, the movie's OK; but if you want something more, pass on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Great Concept, Poorly Executed
Review: The idea of aliens sending DNA to earth, ostensibly as a good will gesture, but actually as a "stealth" attack is a good one. The idea that this DNA would be hybridized with that of humans to create a hybrid species which would colonize earth is also a good one. It is certainly a good idea to have Natasha Hentridge play the alien "breeder". This is exactly the way you would want the creature to look.
Unfortunately, good initial ideas don't always result in a good movie. The script is horrible, the acting stilted, and even the special effects aren't all they should be. One of the biggest problems with the film is the scientists are made far too stupid. Example: One of them says "We made it a female because females are easier to control." Just like the black widow spider! Another example: The Alfred Molina character knows the creature is disguised as a gorgeous blonde. He then meets her and decides to have sex with her, anyway. Ben Kingsley's performance is certainly the low point of his career, although he didn't have much to work with.
And yes, Natasha looks great naked, but that's not enough to carry the movie. In less clumsy hands, this film might have become a classic of science fiction. As it turned out, it is a second rate thriller.

Rating:
Summary: Remarkably restrained
Review: Okay, face it. This is not a great movie. It can be enjoyable to watch, and Natasha Henstridge is ... and fun. Having said that, there is no doubt that the plot tends to be silly at times, and there are more than a few holes in the script.
The odd thing about this film is how little "blood and gore" it really shows. So many movies go overboard in that department. And although there are a lot of uncomfortable scenes in the film, without exception they do not linger any longer than absolutely necessary. Lighting, camera angles, and cuts are designed to leave much to the imagination rather than parading body parts until you want to -- well, you get the idea. An awful lot of moviemakers could learn something from this "little" film.
I must admit -- I enjoy this film. (I also admit that I don't always watch the last scene.) But most of all, I have a list of movies that I wish showed the kind of (don't laugh) subtlety in cinematography that this one does. Think about it.
And enjoy the film. It is supposed to be fun. And it is.

Rating:
Summary: THE THUMB SCENE...
Review: ...alien hottie kidnaps girl - ties her up in bed and decides to crash for the night next to her hostage. They both wake up in the morning - apparently kidnapped chick was tired too - however, at dawn she starts her whimpering because mean alien hottie is a tad bit threatening and is not a bit interested in hearing pleas of innocence. Alien babe hatches an idea and proceeds to cut her thumb off in front of tied up hostage who predicatively amps up the scarred voltage accordingly. Alien then cuts off hostage chick's thumb and leaves by herself. What is she up too? She dumps the kidnapped girl's severed thumb in the garbage. Later on: she ends up being chased in the Hollywood hills. The good guys are on the trail and with helo's too! After a few minutes of intense chasing the Specie drives randomly off the road and down an embankment with hostage tied in the passenger seat (we must assume that she went back to the house and got her). Remember creature-feature fans, that our Alien has never been to the Hollywood hills and does not know the land. Well well, as luck would have it there is and Explosive Box that the car is going to hit...alien dives out just in time and car explodes. Wow! So, thumb is taken back to HQ where (now, this isn't shown so I'm just guessing) they confirm that it was from the alien on the lamb - never mind that the fried corps was in the passenger seat. This movie is about as dumb as it gets, but still - it ain't too bad. Have fun and enjoy the crappy movies in life!

Rating:
Summary: Fun, But Not Up To Its Potential.
Review: The main problem I saw with Species was the uneven plot. At the beginning of the movie, young Sil (played for 15 minutes by Dawson's Creek's Michelle Williams) is set up to be gassed. Sil is an alien life form caught by some secret company that monitors extra terrestrial activity. As the gas spews out, Sil jumps through the glass and escapes. At the beginning, she doesn't understand or realize why she is evil, and that was a potential interesting story arc. In several scenes, she questions the way she is and wants to know why. These parts of the film are thoughtful and rather interesting. Sil grows quickly into an adult alien who is in the body of the super hot Natasha Henstridge. When she feels like it, she morphs into an alien creature designed by none other than Alien's H.R. Giger (though not quite as impressive as that film's monster). After about 45 minutes, Sil's wonder for the way she is goes out the window and she just goes on a killing rampage, going home with horny men and slaughtering them in various ways. The movies still fun from this point, but Sil becomes less interesting as a character and just becomes a monster. The special effects are gooey and well done, the acting is fine (aside from the stupid psychic dude, who's character I hated) and Sil looks great without a shirt on (these scenes are much to short, though). Overall, Species had potential at the beginning to make Sil into the good guy and her hunters into the bad guys, but instead it took the easy way out and made her a bad girl hunted down by good guys. It's like two movies blended together: a well made, compelling one and a silly B-movie.

The DVD from MGM is good. It has an aspect ratio of 2:50:1 (or something like that) and it anamorphic for widescreen TVs. It is presented in 5.1 surround and features a trailer. I would have liked a commentary by Natasha Henstridge, but alas, the disc is bare boned.

Rating:
Summary: SCARIEST SCIFIMOVIE IN YEARS
Review: VERYYYYYYYYYYY CREEPY IMAGIINE A HOT GIRL THAT YOU BRING HOMES ABOUT TO SLAUGHTER YOU WOW VERY DISTURBING WITH GORY AND SEXY MOMENTS A HORRIFIC MASTERPIECE

Rating:
Summary: BEST SCIFI MOVIE EVER
Review: VERY CREEPY A SEXY GIRLKILLING MEN SCARY ENOUGH

Rating:
Summary: "I'm foreign"
Review: Pretty good sci-fi/action/horror/semi-comedy. Probably a
must-have for sci-fi collectors and definitely a must-have
for Natasha Henstridge fans.

The best parts (and most humorous) are the scenes where
Sil (Henstridge) is trying to figure out how to operate in
Earthly society. I would have given the show five stars if a
couple more such scenes were included in place of some of
the slower and/or more predictable scenes in the latter half
of the film.